: Imax runs at 24 FPS. And the image was re-framed and re-digitized with a slightly higher resolution. It was not "stretched."

I work in digital media on a daily basis. I'm not trying to start an argument or a flame war here or anything, but your 're-digitized' means what?

Unless Disney Inc. re-scanned, repainted, and/or recomposited all of the new footage, it was scanned through their digital CAPS system for a feature-grade projection. Even the 3d pieces would have been rendered at a feature-grade resolution. I've heard it's something rediculously high like 6000dpi, but I'm not sure that's an accurate number.

Regardless, digital media is strictly married to the maximum dpi it was scanned/rendered at. You can't add pixels per inch. It just doesn't work that way. There is no 'make it look better on a larger screen' button. The only option is to go back and start over at a higher resolution.

If you take an image that's 75dpi, and tell the computer to make it 100dpi, you wind up with a larger image; not an image the same size at a higher resolution. If you then attempt to shrink this image back down to its original size at the higher resolution, you wind up with *exactly* the same image and resolution you started with. So, if they just projected an image designed for a feature-screen onto a screen four times the size of a theater screen, it would be stretched, enlarged, or whatever you want to call it. This is what I meant by 'stretching'. I called it 'stretching' because I didn't want to get on one of my long-winded rants like I'm doing now.

So, if you consider that some of that footage (The Whales, especially) was filmed and completed 8 years ago (long before it was decided to make this an IMAX film), I seriously doubt they went back and ran the entire film through 'post production' a second time.

And as far as the IMAX cameras running at 24fps...I copied this off of IMAX's website.

"The IMAX 3D projector uses a 15,000 watt, water-cooled xenon arc lamp with two bulbs and runs horizontally at 48 frames per second, using Imax's proprietary Rolling Loop Projection System. (Standard 35mm film travels vertically and is projected at a speed of 24 frames per second.) "

The IMAX3D projector is based on the same technology as the IMAX projector (I couldn't find any tech quotes regarding the non 3D projector), and they both use 15/70 ratio film (four times bigger than a 35mm film frame, with four times the information, and twice the resolution).

So my original critique stands: The film was animated at 24fps, at a regular feature-grade resolution. It ran at 48fps, and was wrongly projected at an IMAX resolution. It looked like garbage to a trained eye, and will look much better once it's run in regular theaters.